As Sharks fan, we are not going to see a rebuild. The GM has mentioned that several times already. Re-tooling is our only way forward based on what we have been told. I think DW is a master at making good trades when people think there is no value in players (with or without trade restrictions). I trust him there. My issues with him are outside of that:
- Too many NMC/NTC's given.
- Holds on to coaches for too long
- Invests too much money in bottom-6 players.
- Drafts too safe (this has changed in the last 2 years or so)
Also, I really don't believe it would take us 10 years to rebuild. Probably more like 5 if they did decide to go full rebuild. But its a moot point because we arent going that route anyway.
If the Sharks went full rebuild, it would take anywhere from 5-10 years.
This is because they aren't going to get anywhere near full value from dealing whoever in their current core would be willing to go. The trade clauses are too restrictive.
Look at the Senators, they are already pretty much three years into a rebuild and they are still a bottom feeder. It's a similar scenario, but I doubt the Sharks will get as much for their core as the Senators did, and that's even with the mis-steps the Senators made along the way.
The only way I can see the Sharks pulling off a rebuild would be clearing the deck by getting the best offers for Karlsson, Burns, Couture, Vlasic, Kane, etc (which will all be soft offers because of NTC issues), and then loading up with assets through taking on bad money/finishing low enough in the draft to get top end talent.
There could be an argument made that Kane/Karlsson/Couture are young enough to keep around for a 5 year rebuild. That the Sharks could try to move on from the other older core players and keep those three along with Lebanc, Hertl, and Meier. But that would be contingent on those players wanting to stay through a rebuild. The Sharks obviously wouldn't have to trade them, but teams rarely like keeping players around who don't agree with the organizational goal. There would also be the downside that the Sharks probably end up in that middle ground where they aren't bad enough to get a good shot at top end talent, but aren't good enough to be a contender or consistently make the playoffs. At that point, that's more of a re-tool than a rebuild.